PD out of office 7/3 and 7/4

Dr. Shepherd and I will both be out of the office on Monday, July 3 and Tuesday, July 4. You may reach me on my cell phone in case of emergency. Dr. Nash

Navigant update

The immediate impact of the Navigant recommendations as they apply to the FM Department are expected to be limited to the loss of three faculty positions. The Urgent Care position has remained unfilled for the past year and those duties covered by current members of the faculty. That strategy will continue long term and the unfilled position officially closed. One faculty member is scheduled to retire the end of August and that faculty line will be closed. One additional faculty member has decided to make a change to another practice opportunity and when that occurs, that faculty line will be closed.

To the best of my knowledge, there will be no staff cuts in the administrative staff upstairs. It is anticipated that there will be a small reduction in downstairs/clinic staff but I do not yet have details regarding that.

Navigant recommendations included the convening of a Task Force consisting of UTMB people to further study the residency and fellowship programs and make further recommendations regarding those. I do not yet know who will be on that Task Force or what their timeline will be. My personal speculation is that we will know something near the end of the calendar year. The Dean has given her word that all current residents and fellows would have the opportunity to complete their training program according to the current expectations for progress and promotion.

From my perspective, the FMR will continue to move forward on our improvement projects, working toward a program of excellence as has been our goal for the past two years. We've made a lot of progress toward the excellence criteria and hope to realize the achievement of some longer term goals in this new academic year. I anticipate no dramatic impact to our program at this point from the Navigant recommendations.

The Chiefs are updated weekly and they are, as am I, willing and available to answer any questions you may have or respond to concerns related to the Navigant report.

To the new class of FM interns

Thoughts on being a Family Doc…

This is a hard year. You will learn more this year than at any other time in your professional life, with the possible exception of your first year in practice.

Remember that you are NOT a pediatrician, obstetrician, intensivist or surgeon! You will never know as much as they do about their fields. And you don’t need to. That’s not your job.

At the end of this year, your pediatric and internal medicine colleagues will not be competent to deliver a baby. You will. Your OB colleagues will not have a clue about what to do with a sick newborn or a young woman with chest pain. You will know. You will be able to manage a patient’s diabetes AND their hypertension AND their skin cancer. You will know which patient with a headache needs a CT scan and which one needs to learn about stress reduction. You will care for everyone in a family, from newborn to geriatric. You will understand how their history and family and community impact their health. None of your colleagues in other disciplines will be able to do all of that.

Try to remember some of this as you feel stressed and poorly prepared in your intern rotations. You are an intern and you are learning. Every one of us has been there. At the end of this year, you will be more prepared than the interns of any other field. It will seem like eternity and then suddenly the first year will be over. You will be amazed how much you’ve learned.

Welcome. We’re glad to have you here. It’s going to be an exciting and rewarding year.

Happy and sad times

Well, we did it. We had to let them graduate... but we sure will miss them! It was a great night of celebration of accomplishments and sad goodbyes. This class holds a special place in my heart because they were the first that I was primarily responsible for selecting and recruiting as a new Program Director. I'm very proud of them and all they've accomplished. What a talented group of young people!

The UTMB-FM Faculty of the Year for 2006 is Dr. Cecilia Romero. Dr. Romero has served UTMB, the Family Medicine Residency and Pre-Doc programs and so many other organizations in more ways than I can possibly name. The FMR will especially miss her contributions to our Community Medicine curriculum and as a valued and trusted resident mentor. Dr. Romero will retire in September and she too will be missed. See the video of Dr. Romero's award presentation.

Outgoing Chief Residents Clint Watson, M.D. and Huelen Smith, M.D. with Administrative Associate Louis Johnston announce award recipients.

Staff Appreciation Award recipient, Rosie Vincent

I won't list all the award recipients and graduates individually here because we will have a section of the website devoted to the details, so check the photo album in a few days. Thank you to the FMR Staff who did so much to make this a great night. Thank you to the residents of the Class of 2006, who have worked so hard and made us all so proud of them.

Congratulations, Residents of the Class of 2006!!

Congratulations, Angela

Three cheers for our own Angela Wells, member of the FMR staff! For those who don't know, Angela has a beautiful singing voice and recently competed for a chance to win some pretty fabulous prizes, including a recording contract. Learn more, see the video and help Angela win by voting at http://gospel2006.promolot.com/

We're cheering for you, Angela, and wishing the best!

Kudos to Clarence and Jerome

Linda recently received the six month summary report on medical records. I am pleased to recognize Clarence and Jerome for having NOT ONE delinquent medical record for the entire six months! Good work, guys!

UTMB Update

The story in today's Galveston County Daily News

Dr. Stobo's public statement as posted on the UTMB website

Specifics regarding how Family Medicine and the FM Residency program in particular will be affected are not yet available. Dr. Thompson expects to receive some of that information this morning and I will post an update when I know more.

A general meeting for the Program Directors is scheduled next Tuesday. My meeting with Drs. Blackwell and LeBlanc follows on Wednesday morning.

To the best of my knowledge, I do not expect any current residents to be directly affected. This includes our incoming class.

Program Directors' Workshop

Mike Callaway and I presented "Assessing Residents on the ACGME Competencies: The Issue of Reliability" at the 2006 Program Directors' Workshop, May 5th.

This project was funded by our current HRSA Residency Training Grant and begins to look at the issue of reliability of various measures of competency used in our program to assess residents.

The results were well received and should be useful to many Family Medicine programs. We anticipate submission for publication in the near future.

Thanks for the great work, Mike!

Dr. Kunchar's fellowship graduation

Dr. Indu Kunchar, member of the FM Residency faculty, recently completed a Faculty Development Fellowship. Click the link to see the video of the faculty roasting Dr. Kunchar at graduation! :-)

Match 2007

The NRMP has posted the Match 2007 timeline, if you want to review it.

We will be having our first Recruiting Team meeting mid to late July, exact date TBA.

I anticipate our process will be much the same as last year, with interviews scheduled on Monday and Wednesday mornings, from mid-October through early February.

Stay tuned for announcement of the Recruiting Team meeting date/time...

Update on PD

Although not exactly Residency news, I do want to update you on my personal situation as it does affect Residency. And besides, many of you have been interested...

On Monday, I received a referral of a 3y/o girl for adoption from Russia. I will be making two trips to Russia to complete the adoption. The first will be about 10 days and the second 3 weeks. I plan to take maternity leave upon return from trip 2. In total, my second absence will be about 6 weeks.

I AM returning to work and the PD position after my leave. I do not anticipate any significant disruption in Residency. Dr. Shepherd, Ron Williams, Linda Hubbell and the remainder of the Residency team are well prepared to lead the program during my absence. I don't yet have any specific travel plans as I am awaiting my travel invitation from Russia. This could happen at any time and I will most likely get 2 - 4 weeks notice.

If you'd like to see a photo of my angel, there is one on my office door. :-)

I will post updates on specific plans as they become available.

Sad News

It is with a sad heart that we let you know of the passing of Mrs. Jean B. Thompson. The mother of Dr. Barbara L. Thompson, Chairman of the Department of Family Medicine, Mrs. Thompson lived at the Edgewater Retirement Community here in Galveston. She has long been a strong supporter of UTMB and a valued member of the Galveston Community. We ask you to join us in expressing our deepest sympathies to her family and friends. Dr. Thompson and her family have requested that in lieu of flowers a donation be made to the Jean B. Thompson Memorial Scholarship for Excellence in Family Medicine, c/o the Department of Family Medicine, UTMB, Galveston, TX 77555-1123.

Jury Duty

I will be out all of this week for jury duty. Dr. Shepherd will be in charge, assisted by the rest of the crew. Jackie has my cell phone number and can leave me messages for any urgent matters, but I'm limited to checking in for 15 minutes each morning and afternoon, plus the lunch hour. I hope to be back in the office on Monday.

We have ARRIVED...

Today as we were planning for the graduation of the Class of 2006, I was thinking about how far we've come in the past four years. Because it was about four years ago that we decided to make some major changes in the UTMB FM Residency. We tightened up our academic requirements. We made the decision that our ranked applicant pool will reflect the diversity of our population. We decided we would aggressively recruit residents who resonated with our mission to reach the underserved. We reviewed and revised our interview process and have continued to refine that process each year since.

As I look at you - the UTMB Family Medicine Residents - I'm really proud of you. I'm proud of what a good job you do every day, taking care of patients and taking your education seriously. I'm very proud of the Class of 2006. You started it all - you were the first group recruited for the new course we set. And now you're going into practice... mostly in rural or underserved areas of Texas. One of you will represent us in another state.

The residents in the classes below you have built on your successes and strengths and learned from your mistakes and experiences. You have left a legacy of unity and support. The faculty have high expectations of you and, more importantly, you have high expectations of yourself. High standards. I think the faculty have learned a lot about how to be helpful in times of struggle. And even the very best residents (and faculty) have their struggles from time to time. It's called being human.

Of course we will continue to improve and evolve. The Residency must and will continue those processes. But I think we all deserve to take a moment and celebrate what we've achieved so far!

We have become who we set out to be. Four years and counting is not a lucky break... it's a trend! Our new tradition. We've finally arrived and the Classes of 2006-2009 are the proof that we've recruited the group of residents we set our sights on four years ago. I am proud of the group as a whole and each and every one of you, from the graduating class to the new recruits. We have become who we set out to be. I like the sound of that.

39th STFM Annual Spring Conference

The FMRP was represented by 7 faculty, 1 resident, 1 medical student and 1 residency staff member as presenters at the 39th STFM Annual Spring Conference April 26 - 30 in San Francisco, for 2 breakfast round-table discussions, 1 podium presentation and 3 poster presentations.

Presentation topics included cultural competency, rural training, spirituality and the ACGME Outcomes project. Faculty members also participated in a variety of special groups and topic discussions. Presentation details follow:

Breakfast discussions:
"Low-cost or no-cost standardized patient based activities for residency programs" - Michael Callaway, Lisa Nash, K. Szauter

"Border health education for medical students" - A. Padilla, Cecilia Romero, K. Flores

Posters:
"Family physicians' beliefs, attitudes and practices regarding the integration of patient spirituality into medical care" - Michael Olson, Victor Sierpina, et. al.

"Assessing the ACGME competencies: the reliability of faculty ratings of residents" - Michael Callaway, Lisa Nash, Becky Hamilton.

"Family medicine residents' perceptions of a rural training track experience" - Lisa Nash, Michael Olson, Juanita Caskey.

Podium Presentation:

"Creating & maintaining a Hispanic/Spanish speaking focus team in an FPC" - Cecilia Romero, Susan Berkley, Pompeyo Chavez and Kristen Solana-Walkinshaw.

Dr. Gary Shokar and Robert Bulik were recognized at the conference too, receiving a national award for their work in the web-based training component of the FM clerkship for medical students. They acknowledged Darren Burns for his technical support and expertise too.

Good job and thanks to all who put in so much work to turn out a good showing for our program! See the residency website photo album too!

A new era, for sure...

Having recently become introduced to the world of blogs (I know, I'm old... give me a break!), I thought we should try having one for the residency. Maybe more of the residents will read this than my emails?! We'll see... the first resident to post a comment indicating that they've read this wins a prize. Leave your comment and I'll notify you where to pick it up. :-)

We're (the UTMB FM Residency program) pretty technology savvy, so this is a logical addition. We're fast approaching the go-live transition from the EMR FM pioneered more than 10 years ago to the new one selected for the entire enterprise. The library resources - database access for research and on line point-of-care technology - available to us are extensive. We all use technology in our patient care activities on a daily basis - real-time schedule access, lab and xray results, PDA based resources as well as internet resources such as Up To Date and the www universe of practice guidelines and patient education materials have totally changed the practice of medicine since my graduation from residency. It's hard to believe I had NONE of those tools when I began my practice. It's an exciting time to be a doctor.

So, here you have it... the just unveiled PD's blog. I'll post news of interest here from time to time. I look forward to your comments and seeing how this works out.